focaccia/pizza dough

The other day. . .
I had company. . .
the smallest and the sweetest .. .
We got to talking about how to make a good pizza dough .. .
so. .
I whipped out a bowl and the yeast and we did a quick tutorial.
I use this dough to use as focaccia bread or pizza dough.
The ingredient list is so simple and inexpensive.
3 1/4 cup bread or all purpose flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast. . . not instant
1 1/4 cup warm water. . .(temp. .baby bath water warm)
1 tablespoon white wine (optional)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Simply. .
Stir together the yeast and 1 1/4 cup flour
Add the water
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, wine and the salt.

Stir in 1/4 cup flour at a time but do not exceed up to 1 2/3 cup.
(It would be a good idea to measure it out ahead of time)

Once you can't stir it anymore. . .
put a little flour on your counter (you will have 1/3 cup left from the original 3 1/4 cups)

Use the remaining 1/3 cup flour to knead the dough.
It may still feel sticky.

That's okay ..
better a little sticky than tough and dry.
Continue to knead pushing it away from you and then folding it over bringing it back.
Just a light dusting of flour is all it should take to keep it from sticking.
I've said it before but I say it again. . .
invest in a bench scraper. . .
Don't worry if you continue to see the little yeast balls. .

Put it in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Important. . .
let it sit all day or overnight in the refrigerator.

I find that this produces the best crust.

In this picture you can see that the dough has been punched down in the bowl and it is very soft and puffy with big bubbles.

This is where you can become creative.

I chopped up really fine. . .some sun dried tomatoes. .
(now. . if you put these on I would hold off doing so until the dough is half baked.. . they got a bit dark)

I also had some caramelized onions from the day before. .
and I finely chopped some rosemary.

Divide your dough into half.

Cover and let it sit for another 10 minutes or so. .
it needs time to rest to that it isn't so elastic.

Roll it out into a fit a 12 inch pizza pan.

Spread with 1 tablespoon Olive Oil if you are making Focaccia bread. .
For Pizza spread with Pizza Sauce.



Cover with some toppings.
On this one we did. . .
Fresh tomatoes diced.
Some basil finely chopped.
Feta finely crumbled. .
and a bit of shredded Italian cheese.


These are the toppings with the caramelized onions and the sun dried tomatoes. .
(remember I said. . put the tomatoes on half way through baking. . do as I say not as I do)

I put the dough on parchment paper and then onto a pizza pan.
You could do this nicely with a pizza stone.

Let rise again until puffy.
Preheat the oven to 400
Bake it for about 25 minutes. . or until nicely browned..



Now. .
the other thing you might want to try is grilling the pizza/focaccia bread.

If you plan to do this. . .
use a healthy amount of olive oil. . . on the dough.
Spread/roll it out.
Use some cornmeal. . .
so that you can move it easily onto the grill.

Slip the dough onto a hot grill ..
let it get grill marks on one side. .
turn it over and let it get grill marks on the other side.
Put on a few toppings and let it finish baking. .


This is the finished bread with the onions and the sun dried tomatoes. .
the flavour was really quite yummy.

The biggest thing is to experiment and put on what you and your family enjoys.



This was the fresh tomato. . feta. . and basil bread.

Quite tasty too.
We enjoyed this one the best of the two.

Good times. .

Today, I'm off for my walk .. .
then I'm having my roots checked. . .
and then in the evening an Epicure tasting party ..
woo hoo.

Have a wonderful day my friends.

Comments

  1. Oh...you can guess what I'm craving right about now. Those look so yummy! I watched someone preparing grilled pizza on a cooking show not long ago...saved all the instructions...and have yet to try it. But now I will!

    Enjo your 'Epicure' party...I've heard they are wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh I'm so glad I had a hearty breakfast before I saw this post.
    Looks yummy. Love all the photos. Enjoy your day...

    ReplyDelete
  3. This make me so hungry right now and I just finished breakfast, but I'm thinking that we could do a shortcut and by the dough and make all the ingredients on top...
    Looks so yummy!
    Isn't it fun to tutor someone in baking? It's a great experience.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh boy...thanks, really! Thanks. a. whole. lot. :D

    Just when I think I'm getting back on "the plan," I invariably find a recipe that must be tried. I'll be trying this one for certain.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great tutorial. I'm thinking it would be fun to make the dough Thursday evening, so as to be ready for a Friday night relaxing simple meal.

    And maybe double the recipe...make twice the amount and stash half of the finished product in the freezer for quick thaw and heat meals later on.

    And...thinking about a breakfast focacci: Canadian or regular bacon, a bit of scrambled eggs, onion and cheese. Or sugary spiced with cooked fruit on top. Hmmmm....like you said, get creative, have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My granddaughter Elora is also now on the Gluten-free tread mill... and was wishing I could figure out how to make a good gluten-free pizza crust.... Some things are maybe not possible....the best imitation is just not the same !! but we can dream right?
    Yours looks yummy, Lovella !!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm hungry!! That was very tempting.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm so glad I just finished lunch otherwise I'd be mixing up this dough in my kitchen right now! I love breads..
    I like Jill's idea of 'sugary spiced with cooked fruit on top'..so many ways to try!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yum!!
    I will be trying this recipe for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh, I think I'm ready for a pizza right about now. I'm a bit lazy, I guess - the wonderful bakery in my favorite grocery store makes terrific pizza dough. I usually pick it up to make a quick pizza or calzone or stromboli...never thought about focaccia, however. I'll have to try that next time.

    I really enjoy your tutorials!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yum! This looks so delicious! Great tutorial. Thank you!

    LaTeaDah

    ReplyDelete
  12. Can you believe I got drawn in to the dough making and didn't even notice the new template until I scrolled down to yesterday's post??

    I do like the new banner!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Lovella...that looks pretty fantastic...I love your energy Rachel Ray has nothing on you... :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. You are making me soooo hungry. I can hardly wait to try this recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hi Lovella - I have to tell you that you made my mouth water! YUMMY!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Okay...now my Sunday Chem 'card' is getting filled....this will definitely be on the list of 'to bake'...

    Thanks Lovella. It looks delicius!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I HAVE to try that...did you know that pizza is my favorite food?! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks for the tutorial on the dough....I have been wanting to make some focaccia bread but I don't want to waste my time on a recipe that won't work. But I trust your recipes they have never let me down.

    Can't wait to try it out!

    Ps. Paul commented to me the other day if "Is Lovella the one that you got that Paska recipe from?" - "yep, she is" .... his response "God bless Lovella!" Ha ha ha, obviously I don't only get the benefits of reading your blog, my family does too!

    ReplyDelete
  19. My family and I will have to try this and many other recipes you have!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you!